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As my homestudy began to wind down my placement agency recommended that I go ahead and fill my I600 (complete with a letter explaining that the Homestudy would follow in a few weeks). Per the I600 instructions the homestudy must be submitted w/in one year of the I600 filing, but there is no mention to it being a requirement to start the process.
That was the beginning of May. Two weeks later we got a 'love letter' from CIS stating basically that they wouldn't do anything until they got our homestudy.
July 27th we submitted the homestudy.
So based on this I have a couple of questions.
It sounds like CIS is now requiring everyone to submit the homestudy with the application otherwise they will hold the app and not process, is that what you all are finding?
Does my 3 month processing time then start with the July 27th filing of the homestudy? Yikes, this takes forever.
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This is really nothing new. While some USCIS offices have allowed -- and perhaps still allow -- families to submit their I-600A without their homestudy report, they have always been in the minority. Correct procedure requires that the I-600A be submitted with all of its attachments.
Moreover, most offices, even if they have accepted an incomplete I-600A, do not begin processing until the homestudy report is submitted. They don't want to waste time on reviewing an application, only to find out that a family's homestudy has resulted in a denial.
I am sorry that you expected a speedier approval, but it is actually normal for a review to begin only after the homestudy is submitted. With the I-800A, for Hague adoptions, it is mandatory for the homestudy to be submitted with the application, as I understand it.
Now, that being said, some USCIS offices process I-600A forms faster than others. Three months is not unusual, although some offices may turn them around faster, and others may be even slower.
Adoption is not a quick process. Nowadays, even in the best circumstances, adoptions often take 18 months to two years.
Sharon
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Does anyone know if the Memphis USCIS office (from recent experience) will give you a fingerprint appointment after receiving the I600A WITHOUT homestudy? We'd like to get our fingerprints done asap (in case we're not available to take time off later). I see some responses on here from years ago, but I know USCIS always change the rules. So, any recent experience response is appreciated! Thanks!
From April 1, 2010 all non-Hague adoption applications are being processed at the National Benefit Center (in Lee's Summit, MO) rather than at the local USCIS office. We filed our application there without our home study and it did appear that they started processing it before the home study arrived. However, we did our fingerprints overseas so our experience may not be typical.
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I went to USCIS today (for something else) and asked the question about fingerprinting before homestudy. The officer told me that now all processing rules are set up by the central office (National Benefit Center). Local offices no longer make any determination or even maintain case status for the I-600A since it's turned over to the National office. The National office makes the decision when we can get fingerprints done. The only thing local offices do for I-600A is get the fingerprints when you have the appointment letter. I also asked then why there are different processing times per local office if it's not related to the local office. The officer didn't know why.